A Salon and Spa Owner's "HR Checklist" for 2014

Many salon owners center their “New Year” planning around sales and growth objectives. However, human resource issues, particularly around maintaining compliance with the law, can create major hurdles to meeting those goals. Take special care not to neglect your HR department at the start of the year by attending to the following:

Training Calendar: Many trainings are mandated by state and federal laws. Add mandatory training such as sexual harassment, safety and a review of company policies and procedures - be sure to update these as necessary and do you best to make them fun so your team stays engaged. Start off with an overview of 2014 and what to expect during your January meeting.

License and Certification Check: When licenses and certifications lapse, companies risk fines by governing agencies while also opening themselves up to civil and criminal liabilities. Create a calendar of all expiration dates that also send alerts to employees both 60 days and 3 days prior. Outlook is a great tool for this. Let the employee know via their renewal reminder that if their license or certification expires or lapses they will not be able to work until they are current.

Employee Check-In: Not only is it critical to conduct performance reviews so everyone can get off on the right foot, it’s also a good time to have your team update their contact information.

Workers Comp: Check your workers comp insurance for expiration dates and prepare for renewal. A lapse in insurance puts you at risk for state fines for violating mandated laws to provide coverage. Also, many underwriters will not insure a business if they have a lapse in coverage. Worst of all, a business owner risks liability if an employee is injured while there is no coverage.

IRS: Those initials make every business owner shudder. Miss or incorrectly prepare W-2‘s and you may be penalized up to $75,000 for a small business per year. Also, be sure to prepare all needed audit or compliance reports such as payroll for tax purposes.

Review the Law: It’s in your best interest to get up to speed on all new laws or changes to existing laws for both federal and your state. One of the obvious ones is the Health Care Reform (HCR). There are 12 new requirements for businesses with over 50 employees that go into effect on January 1, 2014, which will require updating all policies.

Service Providers: If you are planning on changing service providers for things such as payroll or benefits, the beginning of the year is the best time to make these changes. Begin vetting potential candidates before the New Year hits so you can make a smooth transition.

It’s much easier to prevent fires, than put them out, so prepare ahead of time by incorporating HR into your 2014 planning.

Jennette Pokorny, VP of Marketing & Communications for EverNext HR, the first company to offer small businesses a virtual human resources assistant who is supported by a state of the art, proprietary HR knowledge base use online system. Jennette has 12 years of corporate and nonprofit management experience and understands the challenges business owners face with their day-to-day operations, particularly with personnel. With more than a decade of experience providing solutions for small business, Jennette hopes to alleviate some of the human resources difficulties business owners lose sleep over.

Jennette Pokorny, VP of Marketing & Communications for EverNext HR, the first company to offer small businesses a virtual human resources assistant who is supported by a state of the art, proprietary HR knowledge base use online system. Jennette has 12 years of corporate and nonprofit management experience and understands the challenges business owners face with their day-to-day operations, particularly with personnel. With more than a decade of experience providing solutions for small business, Jennette hopes to alleviate some of the human resources difficulties business owners lose sleep over. - See more at: http://www.salontoday.com/blogs/6-Strategies-to-Prevent-the-Post-Holiday...